Neuronal Trees in Holiday Colors

These may remind you of trees on a winter day, but they are brain neurons. Neurons have two distinct parts: axons (long fibers that conduct impulses away from the cell to communicate with other cells) and dendrites (short branches that receive impulses and transmit them to the neuron cell body). These neurons were grown in a special chamber that separates axons from dendrites. The axons (red) have grown while the dendrites (green or light blue) stay behind.

NIA’s Cellular and Molecular Neurosciences Section uses an array of experimental models of aging and age-related neurodegenerative disorders to establish the molecular and biochemical changes that occur during aging and in disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases and stroke. Through this work, the investigators are elucidating the cellular signaling mechanisms that allow successful brain aging.